beyondzerosum

Image via Wikipedia

In his post, A Palestinian drasha for Rosh Hashana, Abu Sarah recounts his recent Rosh Hashana dvar torah given at a synagogue in Maryland. 

The Rosh Hashana reading is about Issac and Ishmael, the ancestors of Arabs and Jews.  Some analysts consider the two brothers to be the source of the Arab-Jewish conflict. However, at no point does the Torah say that they were enemies. Despite Sarah and Abraham’s decision to repudiate Hagar and Ishmael, the story talks about God being with Ishmael as he grew up. Later on Ishmael and Isaac came together to bury their dead father. It is true that Sarah and Hagar were enemies, but the two brothers didn’t have to live the choices of their mothers…

He discusses his friend Roi Ben-Yehuda‘s viewpoint on Abraham.  Ben-Yehuda suggests that it perhaps it is time to turn the story around and have Isaac & Ishmael “sacrifice” Abraham.

By slaying our parents, Ben Yehuda means to sacrifice and bury the baggage of, enmity, victimhood and blame mentality that we have inherited from our ancestors. And what better day to do that than the new year? This is exactly what Issac and Ishmael did by coming together despite their mothers’ history.

The new year is also the start of a period of self reflection, the 10 days during which everyone undertakes a process of self-examination, and asking forgiveness of those they might have wronged over the previous year. This is a great idea. It would be great if the world politicians would practice it. Maybe a UN session about self-reflection and forgiveness would be a good start.

Read the entire post here:   A Palestinian drasha for Rosh Hashana

Related articles

• Isaac to Sacrifice Abraham (roiword.wordpress.com)